Photos

2009 Year in pictures

Palestinian firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the home of senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan in the Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on New Year's Day. Israel assassinated the Hamas strongman in its first assault on the top leadership of the territory's ruling group.

Roland Burris, right, and wife Berlean, second from right, attend the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago during a rally Jan. 4. Burris was leaving for Washington, D.C., the following day because Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed him to fill then-President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich talks to the news media at his home in Chicago, Jan. 9, the day the Illinois House voted to impeach him, setting up an unprecedented trial in the Illinois Senate on whether Blagojevich should be thrown out for abuse of power. The allegations included that the governor tried to sell President Obama's vacant Senate seat.

President George W. Bush, center, poses with then-president-elect Barack Obama and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter on Jan. 7 in the Oval Office.

An explosion from an Israeli airstrike is seen in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Jan. 13. Israeli troops advanced into Gaza's suburbs for the first time, residents said, hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist militants that they face an "iron fist" unless they agree to Israeli terms for an end to the war in Gaza.

Airline passengers and crew wait to be rescued on the wings of a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner that its pilots safely ditched in the frigid waters of New York's Hudson River on Jan. 15. A flock of birds had knocked out both of its engines. All of the people on board survived.

Then-president-elect Barack Obama, far right, waves from the back of his inaugural train to a crowd waiting at the Claymont (Del.) Amtrak rail station on Jan. 17. The train stopped in Wilmington, Del., to pick up then-vice president-elect Joe Biden and his family,before heading to Baltimore on its 137-mile trip from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

After his swearing-in ceremony before an estimated 1.5 million people on the National Mall, President Obama gets a thumbs up from his youngest daughter, Sasha.

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House during the Inaugural Parade on Jan. 20.

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance at the Commander in Chief Inaugural Ball at the National Building Museum in Washington on Jan. 20.

Members of the Hamouda family, who are Palestinians, rest in the rubble of their home in the devastated area of east Jebaliya on Jan. 26.

A barren landscape is all that remains after bush fires northeast of Melbourne, Australia, struck the town of Kinglake on Feb. 8. The fires killed 76 people and burned hundreds of homes in the worst fire disaster in three decades. A heatwave and strong winds sent sheets of flame racing through towns and farmland near Melbourne.

The University of Wisconsin marching band entertains members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard during a send-off ceremony to Iraq on Feb. 17 at the Dane County Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison, Wis. It was the largest deployment of Wisconsin National Guard forces since World War II.

Specialist Peter Mazza works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 23. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 251 points to its lowest close since 1997, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index logged its lowest finish since April 11 of the same year.

Israeli President Shimon Peres kisses Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after giving her a bouquet during their meeting at Peres' residency in Jerusalem on March 3. Clinton, on her first Mideast visit as the top U.S. diplomat, said the U.S. would work closely with any new Israeli government.

President Obama welcomes the family's new puppy, Bo, to the White House on March 15.

Detainees pray at a U.S. military detention facility in Camp Bucca, Iraq, on March 16.

One of Doug Stensguard's dogs, Annie, looks out over what used to be a 5-acre yard and an out building in Fargo, N.D., on March 24, after it was flooded by the rising Red River. Stensguard built an earthen and sandbag dike around his home in hopes of holding back the floodwater.

Two men hug as people and volunteers stand amid debris in L'Aquila, Italy, after a strong earthquake rocked central Italy on April 6, killing at least 16 people, collapsing buildings and leaving thousands homeless.

President Obama greets troops at Camp Victory in Baghdad on April 7.

Masked Chinese security guards wait for the release of the first group of quarantined travelers held at the Guomen hotel in Beijing. The people were placed under quarantine by China's Health Ministry after they flew with a Mexican traveler who was later diagnosed with H1N1, or "swine flu." The travelers were released when they showed no symptoms.

The Jesusita fire approaches Highway 154 in the hills of Santa Barbara, Calif., on May 8.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry, take defensive positions at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province on May 11. Spc. Zachery Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas, wearing ''I love NY'' boxer shorts, rushed from his sleeping quarters to join fellow platoon members. With Boyd are Spc. Cecil Montgomery of Many, La., far right, and Jordan Custer of Spokane, Wash.

A Pakistani girl peers through a makeshift tent in Chota Lahore refugee camp in Swabi, Pakistan, on May 20. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was sending $110 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Pakistan, part of the administration's new strategy for countering the appeal of Taliban militants in the nuclear-armed American ally.

Sailors and Royal Marines from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Portland intercept and board one of two pirate vessels during operations in coordination with Spanish maritime patrol aircraft in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, on June 2. The two pirate vessels, which were found to be carrying extra barrels of fuel, grappling hooks, and a cache of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and ammunition, were subsequently sunk by gunfire.

A forensic investigator examines bullet strikes in one of the doors of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. June 11, a day after a shooting left a security officer dead and the gunman wounded.

In this photograph posted on the Internet, two Iranian women take cover from a cloud of either tear gas or smoke at an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, on June 20.

Michael Jackson's casket is brought out during the pop icon's public memorial service held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7.

Singer Janet Jackson, left, Paris Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II and LaToya Jackson are seen on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor takes an oath before reading her statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the first day of her confirmation hearings, July 13.

Lance Cpl. Sean McMullen of Colorado Springs talks to his girlfriend on a satellite phone under the moonlight at combat outpost ANP Hill in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on Aug. 9.

A rescuer carries children as residents of the landslide-affected village of Namashia are evacuated by military helicopter following typhoon Morakot in southern Taiwan on Aug. 14.

Women cry as hundreds of mourners gather outside Boston's Fanueil Hall to watch the motorcade carrying the body of Sen. Ted Kennedy pass Aug. 27. The last brother of a pre-eminent American political family, Kennedy died that week of cancer.

Bus passengers on a flooded highway wait to be rescued in Istanbul on Sept. 9. Flash floods gushed across an arterial road, killing 20 people and stranding dozens in vehicles.

With protestors in the background, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 10 before the Congressional Oversight Panel hearing on the state of financial markets.

A quiet rendition of "Amazing Grace" capped an emotional candlelight vigil Sept. 14 for slain Yale University student Annie Le, whose body was found on what was to have been her wedding day.

Marines fire during a Taliban ambush Oct. 9, part of an operation to clear an area in Helmand province of insurgent activity.

Soldiers hug after a Nov. 10 memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, for the victims of shootings at the post on Nov. 5.

President Obama comforts a visitor at Arlington National Cemetery's Section 60, where the graves of soldiers from the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts are located, during his visit on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

President Obama tours the Great Wall of China in Badaling on Nov. 18.

Pope Benedict XVI waves from his "popemobile" in the rain on Dec. 8 after the traditional prayer celebrating the Immaculate Conception in Rome.